Consoles are the most popular gaming device. But are they dying slowly?

Hello good people,

today I want to discuss with you the topic of consoles. It is well known that consoles are the most popular gaming device of all. On the web there are countless charts like this one

Image Source: here

It is obvious, that consoles are dominating the market. Why did the consoles became so popular? What will be the trend in the future? Will the consoles increase their dominace or will they die slowly? Some question I want to c onsider in this post.

Why did the consoles became so popular?

That question is not easy to answer. There are many opinions on the web and I have an opinion as well. In my opinion, the most prominent reason that consoles became so popular is convenience. Many people are not interested in computers and hardware but the want to play modern games. In the early days, consoles didn't need any install procedure. You turned on your console, put in the disc and you are ready to go. Simple and Fast. People like that! They don't want to make up their mind about...

• How to install a games?
• How to adjust the settings?
• How to get updates for the game?
• Does the game run on my device?
  Especially the last one was a very important aspect about console gaming. Consoles were made to last. Half a decade at least.

What will be the trend in the future?

Although I'm mainly a PC gamer and console gamer second, the future developement of consoles makes me worry. Why? Well, many of the advantages of console gaming seem to disappear from time to time.

• First, there is the install procedure. Basically, in all modern consoles you have to install the game on your console now. There is no longer a plug and play concept like there was in the old days. The difference of installing a game on a console and on a computer is almost non-present. Same goes to game patches.
• Recently, we see a huge decrease in the life span of consoles. The companies encourage you to upgrade. For example from PS4 to PS4 pro. Sure you dont need to.... But the urge to upgrade your system becomes more and more simular to the PC world. Moreover this is increased by the fact that in some games you will experience lower quality gaming on the older console generations. Couch Witcher 3
• Morevover, the computer world develops as well. With the new concepts of GPU manufactures there are no longer any settings that you have to adjust. Any modern driver now adjusts the graphics settings fully automatic if u wish to. So therefore even people that don't know how to or dont want to adjust settings have the option to leave this task to the drivers.
• And at last, the focus on high res makes me think. Altough our TVs can handle 60fps the consoles will still focus on 30 fps in the next gen. A nogo for any shooter.... I don't know if people will reject 4K30 and want 1440p60. Or if people will go the other way round. Sony and Mircosoft think that 4K is more important than Hz/fps and I don't think this is a good sign for the future. But who knows.

Will the consoles increase their dominace or will they die slowly?

First of, no they will not die. But I also think that the peek in influence has past and they will decrease in influence. But to be fair... not because of PC gaming. As I said, the rise of consoles was influenced by convenience. And the most convenient gaming device atm is not the console nor the PC. It is the

• mobile phone,
• the handheld,
• and even the bowser.

If you ask me, I think that these gaming devices will gain even more popularity in the future. Especially went the mobile hardware gets more and more powerfull. What is you opinion? What do you think about the situation of consoles? Do you think they will increase in influence ? Or decrease?

Feel free to comment.